Study Title:

Tumor Killing Properties of Noni

Study Abstract

An immunomodulatory polysaccharide-rich substance (Noni-ppt) from the fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia has been found to possess both prophylactic and therapeutic potentials against the immunomodulator sensitive Sarcoma 180 tumour system. The antitumour activity of Noni-ppt produced a cure rate of 25%-45% in allogeneic mice and its activity was completely abolished by the concomitant administration of specific inhibitors of macrophages (2-chloroadenosine), T cells (cyclosporine) or natural killer (NK) cells (anti-asialo GM1 antibody). Noni-ppt showed synergistic or additive beneficial effects when combined with a broad spectrum of chemotherapeutic drugs, including cisplatin, adriamycin, mitomycin-C, bleomycin, etoposide, 5- fl uorouracil, vincristine or camptothecin. It was not beneficial when combined with paclitaxel, cytosine arabinoside, or immunosuppressive anticancer drugs such as cyclophosphamide, methotrexate or 6-thioguanine. Noni-ppt also demonstrated beneficial effects when combined with the Th1 cytokine, interferon gamma, but its activity was abolished when combined with Th2 cytokines, interleukin-4 or interleukin-10, thereby suggesting that Noni-ppt induces a Th1 dominant immune status in vivo. The combination of Noni-ppt with imexon, a synthetic immunomodulator, also demonstrated beneficial effects, but not when combined with the MVE-2 copolymer, a high molecular weight immunomodulator. It was also not effective when combined with interleukin-2 or interleukin-12.

Study Information

Furusawa E, Hirazumi A, Story S, Jensen J. Antitumour potential of a polysaccharide-rich substance from the fruit juice of Morinda citrifolia (Noni) on sarcoma 180 ascites tumour in mice. Phytother Res. 2003 December Department of Pharmacology, John Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

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